Jewels From JudyThursday, February 20 2003
A Warning to the Church: The Electric Outlet A Vision In the front of an empty church between the two front pews, and in front of the communion table, dangled an electrical outlet. It was suspended in the air from 1" thick, gray, flexible conduit. The wire came into the top right side of the electrical box and exited the bottom left side. A man's hand with an extension cord in it appeared and he tried to plug it into the outlet. The outlet only twisted and turned away from him. He tried this over and over again with no success. Unsuccessful, he finally went away frustrated. I asked the Lord what this meant. As I prayed, the scene replayed in my mind. I noticed that the outlet was not affixed. It just dangled there in mid-air. It was not firmly framed into the structure of the church. Because it was not anchored, when pressure was applied to push the cord into the outlet, it could only twist and turn. There wasn't enough stability to allow the person to plug in their extension cord. I believe what the Lord was showing me was that the Outlet was representative of the Holy Spirit. The man was representative of a believer trying to get plugged into God's power and authority, and to gain a greater understanding of His ways. The Holy Spirit was in the front and near the communion table, but He wasn't given a fixed place. He was not anchored in the church. It points to the reason some churches are empty and not experiencing growth is because the Holy Spirit of God is not given a firm foundation to which people can plug into and get charged up. So they leave. Unless the Holy Spirit is given a secured place in the church to love, save, guide, teach, build, confirm, comfort, empower, fill, speak, renew, bear witness, convict, sanctify, anoint, correct, heal, counsel, rebuke, send, and give joy to the believers - that church will not be permitted to experience lasting growth. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Amen. 2 Co 3:17; John 14-16 In Christ, |